Saturday, August 26, 2017

I
have always been fascinated by Vikings. Strong, sexy warriors,
ruthless, dominant and determined – what’s not to like? It was
only a matter of time before I wove a series of stories around these
fierce raiders who rampaged through Scotland and England for over
three centuries, eventually settling and leaving their indelible mark
on our history.

A
Viking raid was indeed a ferocious affair. They relied on what would
nowadays probably be termed ‘shock and awe’ swooping in from the
sea on their fast dragon ships to attack with vicious and deadly
effect. The Nordic raiders would be gone almost as swiftly as they
arrived, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. The modern
equivalent would be a helicopter attack on a sleepy rural village by
SWAT teams armed with automatic weapons– the local people would
hardly know what hit them.

Her
Celtic Captor is the third in my Vikings series of stand alone
stories. It offers glimpses of characters from the first two books,
but essentially it charts Brynhild and Taranc's turbulent journey.
She is a Viking noblewoman, he a Celtic slave taken in a Viking raid
on his Scottish village. The tables are turned when a tragic mistake
places her in his power, and then the sparks really fly.

I
have employed a certain amount of poetic license, but in creating my
stories I was determined to recreate the Viking era to the best of my
ability – their homes, their clothing, what they ate, how they
lived. I hope readers will be as entranced as I am by these creative
and charismatic raiders, and perhaps forgive them their more
outrageous little foibles.

Taranc might lust
after the Viking noblewoman, he was a male and drew breath so how
could he not? But he did not like her, and he had never yet fucked a
woman he disliked.

Blurb

As the sister of a
powerful Viking chief, Brynhild Freysson is used to giving orders and
having them obeyed, which makes it all the more difficult to accept
when she suddenly finds herself at the mercy of a Celtic warrior
intent on bringing her back to his village whether she likes it or
not.

Taranc was a leader
of his people before he was taken captive by Viking raiders, and now
that he is a free man once more he has no intention of allowing a
headstrong Norse woman to slow down his journey home with her
stubborn disobedience. When Brynhild refuses to do as she is told, he
wastes no time in baring her bottom for a thorough switching, and he
makes it quite clear that she can expect even more painful and
humiliating punishments if she continues to defy him.

Though her hatred
of the Celts runs deep, Taranc’s stern dominance awakens desires in
Brynhild that she thought she would never feel again, and when he
takes her in his arms and claims her properly it is more pleasurable
than she would have thought possible. But though her passion for him
grows by the day, can she ever truly love a man whose people are
enemies of her own?

Publisher’s
Note: Her Celtic Captor is a stand-alone sequel to Her
Rogue Viking and Her Dark Viking. It includes spankings
and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don’t buy
this book

Yes, she was
scared, and Taranc believed this was real. Her submission might be
forced, but she recognised his power over her however much she might
deplore it and had abandoned her attempts to resist, to refuse to
cooperate. She might yet learn a valuable lesson this day.

Taranc took the
blanket and tugged it away from her body. Brynhild flinched as the
cool morning air caressed her naked back. She opened her eyes to meet
his gaze, her expression fearful. "Please..." she mouthed.

Taranc moved in
close and lifted the heavy length of her unbound hair which cascaded
down her back. He draped it over her shoulder and on impulse bent to
kiss the top of her head. "This will be quick, Brynhild. I
promise. And you will come to no harm."

She closed her
beautiful azure eyes again, and nodded.

Taranc wasted no
time in retrieving his belt which had been flung to the deck in the
scramble for the knife. He removed the empty sheath and folded its
length so he could grasp the metal buckle within his fist. He walked
back to where his captive leaned against the solid wooden pole, her
body shivering. The marks of her previous punishment still streaked
her pale buttocks, and Taranc believed he had never seen a sight more
beautiful. Brynhild Freysson might be the most difficult, complicated
and frankly demanding woman he had ever encountered, but she was
without doubt the most lovely. If their circumstances were
different...

He gave himself a
mental shake. The circumstances were not different. They were what
they were—awkward, dangerous and bloody inconvenient. He would do
what must be done, and she would bear what she could not avoid. What
came next he had not the faintest notion, but he would feel his way
through this…somehow.

"Are you
ready?"

Her lips tightened
into a grimace. She made no further response.

"Ten strokes.
I shall count. You may make all the din you like since we are far out
of port and none but the gulls will hear you."

A single tear
escaped the corner of her eye and snaked its way across her pale
cheek. Despite her reluctance to embrace the mast a few minutes ago
he noted that she gripped it like a devoted lover now.

The belt whistled
through the air. Brynhild let put a startled yelp even before the
leather connected with her quivering rump then danced on the spot as
the stripe bloomed on her skin.

"One."
Taranc shifted his stance to lay the next stroke a little lower and
swung again.

"Two," he
announced as Brynhild gasped and whimpered against the mast. She
clung to the beam as though drawing comfort from its solid warmth.

"Three."
He paused to allow her to take several much-needed breaths as she
hopped from one foot to the other. Her bottom glowed red and he could
almost feel the heat from where he stood.

"Are you all
right?" He was impressed at her fortitude thus far, but felt
compelled to ask even so.

Her answer was a
tight nod and a flattening of her lips. Her body was rigid, her
punished buttocks clenching hard as she anticipated the next stroke.

"It is less
painful if you soften your bottom," he advised.

"How do you
know? Is this something you learnt from your betrothed? How often did
you tie Fiona up and whip her naked bottom?"

A fair enough
question, he surmised, though he considered it ill-judged of her to
ask it right now. He was tempted to increase the punishment by a
further two strokes but decided that might be unduly harsh. "No,
I never had occasion to do so. I always found Fiona to be
sweet-natured and compliant. You, lady, are an entirely different
matter."

And privately, he
thanked the sweet Lord for that.

More
about Ashe Barker

USA
Today best-selling author Ashe Barker has been an avid reader of
fiction for many years, erotic and other genres. She still loves
reading, the hotter the better. But now she has a good excuse for her
guilty pleasure – research.

Ashe
tends to draw on her own experience to lend colour, detail and
realism to her plots and characters. An incident here, a chance
remark there, a bizarre event or quirky character, any of these can
spark a story idea.

Ashe
lives in the North of England, on the edge of the Brontë moors and
enjoys the occasional flirtation with pole dancing and drinking Earl
Grey tea. When not writing – which is not very often these days -
her time is divided between her role as taxi driver for her teenage
daughter, and caring for a menagerie of dogs, tortoises. And a very
grumpy cockatiel.

At
the last count Ashe had over forty titles on general release with
publishers on both sides of the Atlantic, and several more in the
pipeline. She writes M/f, M/M, and occasionally rings the changes
with a little M/M/f. Ashe’s books invariably feature BDSM. She
writes explicit stories, always hot, but offering far more than just
sizzling sex. Ashe likes to read about complex characters, and to
lose herself in compelling plots, so that’s what she writes too.

Ashe
has a pile of story ideas still to work through, and keeps thinking
of new ones at the most unlikely moments, so you can expect to see a
lot more from her.